Thursday, August 16, 2007

Maybe Allegro would like some cognac...

Well, Allegro has had a few glimpses of Piva now, and she is NOT pleased. Yesterday Rick went into the bedroom where we’ve been keeping the kitten and coaxed her toward the door – and I found Allegro and carried her over to the other side of the door so they could look at each other. Piva seemed to be fine – she just sort of looked at Allegro with mild curiosity, seeming neither scared nor upset that another cat was living in the house. Allegro, on the other hand, immediately started hissing, which then dissolved into a fit of hacking on a hairball. Rick said she was showing her anger and her age all at once. (Hiiiisss! Hiiisssss!! Hii- ackhackhackhackhack…) Poor Allegro… trying to cough up an errant hairball and Rick and I start laughing at her… it really WAS pretty funny… :)

I was encouraged, at least, by the fact that Allegro did not attempt to rush into the kitten’s room and ambush her. She seemed intent on running away – unlike mom and dad’s cat Kiko, who likes to attack other cats and drive them into corners and under beds… and then, once she has made it known that she rules the household, she will return to acting like a sweet, innocent little cat who would never lay an angry paw on anyone or anything. Kiko is such a con artist…

Anyway… I was just reading about how the old Edgar Allan Poe “toaster” story may be a hoax. The story says a mysterious cloaked figure shows up at Poe’s grave every year on his birthday and leaves three roses and a bottle of cognac. No one has ever known who it was, or if it was a single person or many different people, or if anyone ever drank all those bottles of cognac… And now the man who led the efforts to preserve the cemetery where Poe is buried claims the story was a promotional hoax – a legend he made up to create more interest in the dilapidated burial grounds. Some people are upset by this admission – but really, does it ultimately matter? I mean, at this point, the legend (fiction or not) has been around for so long that it actually HAS become tradition. Even if the roses and cognac were left at the grave by the cemetery’s caretaker, the story has gained such recognition that I’m sure it will continue to be told.

Of course, I think it would’ve been more in line with the manner of Edgar Allan Poe to maintain the secrecy of the midnight grave visitor. Poe, after all, was the master of mystery and melancholy. I know some people find his work to be dark and dreary and depressing, but I have to say I LOVE Poe. Ever since I read The Tell-Tale Heart in my ninth grade English class. Sure, his stories ARE dark and dreary and depressing, but he has such a way with all those dark, dreary, depressing words. One of my favorite Poe stories is The Masque of the Red Death – obviously not a cheery piece of work. But I love it because of all the symbolism woven throughout the story – the seven colorful rooms, laid out east to west (symbolizing the stages of life, from the rising to the setting of the sun)… costumed revelers determined to escape the deadly plague by sequestering themselves in a lavish castle (an illustration of man’s futile attempts to secure permanent happiness with wealth and possessions)… the heavy black clock that temporarily stops the festivities when it clangs every hour (man’s realization that time continues to pass unhindered)… It’s one of those stories you have to read several times, just to be sure you’ve caught everything of significance.

And Poe wasn’t all doom and gloom – take The Purloined Letter, for example. This little detective story merely shows how the obvious can be overlooked when we put TOO much thought into problems. The important stolen letter in the story was not hidden in any sort of complex, out-of-the-way place… not under the rug, or behind the wallpaper, or stuffed into a hollowed-out chair leg. No, it was simply tucked into an old letter-holder, in plain sight – plain sight, where no one was bothering to look because everyone figured the letter must be “hidden.” Ever since I read this story, I’ve remembered that lesson – now when I lose something, I always make sure to check the most obvious places first, even if I assume I would’ve seen my missing item had it been lying out in the open. And more often than not, I end up finding what I’m looking for. (Ah, the wisdom of Edgar Allan Poe…)

And hopefully, eventually, my little kitten will be able to walk around in plain sight, instead of hiding from Allegro’s hisses in the back bedroom. I suppose I should go once again attempt to strike up a friendship between those two…

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